Results 2,881-2,900 of 5,356 for speaker:Cathal Crowe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: But who advised? The HSE is bringing memoranda to the Government, and I want to know who gave the expert advice here.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Was Mr. Watt's desk the last desk that the advisory memorandum left before it went to the Government?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Both Mr. Watt and I know that the Government acts on recommendations from the witnesses. If an expert report says something, that is generally what the Government adopts. There generally is no push back. Can the witnesses please furnish that memorandum in its entirety or redacted? The mid-west and we as its elected representatives need to know what is the logic and what metric has been...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Are we the outliers of Europe in that regard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I thank Mr. Reid. I will conclude by asking the Chairman, the clerk and the team if we can schedule a full session on this issue of gathering information and storing it and sharing it, because it is essential. We can only have an integrated health system when the information is integrated too. Thank you, Chairman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Sláintecare Implementation: Discussion (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: NCT knows more about Mr. O'Connor's car and my car and their histories than is known about Mr. O'Connor's and my health histories. Is that not damning in itself?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I welcome Ms Byrne and Mr. Watt. I will start with the positives and then I might move to some constructive criticism. I thank them for everything they did during Covid. An Post was everywhere when much of society was not circulating. It was brilliant. I only found out the other day that PPE was being brought to home carers. An Post had a partnership with Home Care Ireland that involved...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: At what point will the network be pared back to an extent whereby An Post is in a financially healthy state to take off and generate more revenue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: The transformation of which Ms Byrne speaks is fully intertwined with the dismantling of the S52 contract. Some people are still on that contract. Approximately one third of postmasters are on the old S52 contract. If I have my figures correct, approximately two thirds have moved onto the new contract. That new contract is largely unsustainable for the small rural post office. There was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: That is absolutely so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: By design, the new contract ensures that many post offices will close.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: It ensures that the collective model is reduced and that some post offices become more viable.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: It is the survival of the fittest. It is like a squid game of the post office network. One will survive while another across the road will fall. There is a requirement for everyone to live within a 15 km radius of a post office, which might not sound like anything to someone in an urban constituency such as Dublin but in Clare, the situation on the ground is that if someone who is pushing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: There is always a fascination to the effect that robots will take over the work of humans. Some postmasters believe that is already happening with the advent of PostPoint. One of the solutions of An Post comes up with in response to the closure of post offices is to suggest putting a PostPoint at the back of a Centra or Spar shop. That is convenient from the point of view of a consumer who...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: Has An Post a strategy to replace physical post offices in rural areas with PostPoint outlets in, for example, Spar shops?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I thank Mr. Watt. His response was a bit reassuring. When the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, was before the committee, she talked about the €10 million fund from the Government to be distributed by An Post. We got locked into a discussion of how much each post office will get and we asked will An Post positively discriminate so that rural post offices get a little...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: I will wrap it up at that. It is important An Post disburses the fund in line with a pyramid model.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Future of An Post Network: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2022)

Cathal Crowe: If the postmaster of a small post office sees that the GPO and the larger city post offices are getting a cut of it, that will erode confidence. I thank witnesses for what they are doing and for their answers.